1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector housing assembly for use for wiring harnesses or the like.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
A terminal locking mechanism is provided on a connector housing assembly for preventing terminals inserted and secured in the connector housing assembly from coming thereoff and there are two types of terminal locking mechanisms employed.
In one of the two terminal locking mechanisms, a locking piece construction is used in which locking pieces are integrally provided on a connector housing assembly via hinges so that the locking pieces are brought into engagement with the locking portions of terminals for prevention of the withdrawal of the terminals. In the other terminal locking mechanism, a spacer construction is used in which separate spacers are inserted into a connector housing assembly from the rear thereof and secured therein for prevention of the withdrawal of terminals.
Recently, as more and more electric equipments are used in an automotive vehicle, the number of circuits of a wiring harness for an automotive vehicle is increasing, and the number of circuits used sometimes reaches several hundreds. There is a great deal of difficulty from the standpoint of quality and operating efficiency in performing wiring harness fabricating and forming operations in which groups of electric wires required to meet that tremendous number of circuits are laid in certain configurations, and connectors are connected thereto. In order to deal with this difficulty, a single wiring harness is divided into groups each comprising several divided wiring harnesses, and these groups of divided wiring harnesses are then assembled and formed into one unit. Afterwards, half-type connector housings each accommodating terminals of intergroup-connecting electric wires drawn out of the respective divided wiring harnesses are combined with half-type connector housings of the divided wiring harnesses, which mate with the former half-type connector housings, to thereby form a single connector housing assembly. Thus, a connector housing assembly employing a combine-and-unite construction is now used in which divided wiring harnesses are connected to each other to be united into one wiring harness having a required number of circuits.
Of the above two terminal locking mechanisms having prior art means, the former locking piece construction requires the operation of the locking pieces in order to bring the same into engagement with terminals after the terminals have been inserted. In addition, there is a risk of thin and fragile hinge portions being damaged/broken during the relevant operation. The latter spacer construction requires the preparation of separate spacers to be inserted into the connector housing from the rear thereof to be secured therein. Both of these constructions have a drawback in that they are not suitable as a connector for a wiring harness for an automotive vehicle that requires high operating efficiency.
In addition, since high operating efficiency is also inevitable even with the above connector housing assembly employing the combine-and-unite construction, as in the case of the above terminal locking piece construction, a connector housing assembly capable of further improving operating efficiency is still required.